Possibly the one where my user character dated Stacy Keibler? In my defence, this was a long, long time ago...

I think my favourite was probably the rise of Tom 'Angry' Gilmore from the SWF midcard to the top of the SWF. He went bell-to-bell in the 2010 Supreme Respect (Royal Rumble equivalent) match before being the last man eliminated, but it was sufficient to raise his profile as he gained the fans' support, reunited with Jessie (in the backstory for my diary they'd split on-screen in a botched storyline before I took over) and won the #1 contender tournament before putting in a strong showing against world champion Rich Money where he became the only man Money couldn't beat. End of Act 1.

Gilmore's showing was good, but not enough to make him a perennial contender to the title. However, he continued to put in strong showings to raise himself further up the card, and come his second shot against the increasingly egomanical Money, he was beginning to be presented as at least reasonable to include in any WOTY discussion. As in the first match, the contest ended in a draw with neither man able to top the other - but this time Money snapped and absolutely brutalised Gilmore, putting him on the shelf and solidifying his 'Money' heel turn. End of Act 2.

Gilmore returned some time later, not out directly for vengeance, but certainly out to take the title. Qualifying for the 2011 Supreme Respect match despite still suffering from the injuries Money handed out, he had all the motivation in the world going into Supreme Challenge, and the pair embarked on a brutal war to settle the score, one that Gilmore just came out on top of as he picked up the win and the title. End of Act 3.

With Gilmore as champion, the story with Money needed closing off, and after two draws and a win that did little to separate the pair, they were booked in an iron man match. That was more brutal still, with Money prepared to accept a DQ off a chairshot that meant gaining a huge lead on Gilmore - but Gilmore wouldn't stay down, and the champion kept plugging away, delivering his own brutality to Money and eventually building an unassailable - and definitive - lead to retain the title. End of Act 4.

Epilogue - Gilmore would reign for about six months before dropping the belt, but an odd thing happened in his relationship with Rich Money, who strangely bore him no ill will for the defeat. Instead Money began to show respect for Gilmore (and Sean McFly) as he cleimed that the three of them were the very best in the world, a cut above anyone else at their best. And Gilmore seemed to agree...

Alas, the diary ended before I could explore too much of a potential Money/Gilmore alliance - whether McFly would have allied with them, whether Gilmore would even have succumbed to temptation, I don't know, but it was a fun idea to tease.

Playing 1991 Mod. I had started out as USWA, but I noticed something crazy in WCW at the start of 1992 ... Vader had some amazing developments. So, I jumped ship and went over there. However, he isn't involved in the best story.

The best story circled around Terry Funk going after the Rhodes again. Funk teamed up with Stan Hansen and Ted DiBiase to form the West Texas Brawlers' Club. Due to their connection to the small Texas university, they wanted Windham and Dusty to join who both attended as well. (Seriously, google West Texas A&M wrestlers)

The Brawlers' Club began picking on Dustin. The feud builds as the teams trade off the tag titles. The build is that Brawlers' Club wants Windham, but the swerve is that Dustin finally turns on both Barry and Dusty. Dustin beats his father at Starrcade and takes the helm of the Brawlers' Club at the beginning of 1993. Dustin was extremely over at the end of this and was ready for a main event run.

I like making a cocky heel be forced to run a gauntlet at a PPV. So for instance, take Joss Thompson. He’s a future main eventer in USPW and I want to get him over fast. I have him shit talk all month about how great he is and the authority figure makes him face guys like Andre Jones, Freddie Datsun and The Force all at the January PPV... and he wins all three. The fans get behind him racist e wins all three matches but afterwards he shuts down the crowd and tells them to keep their cheers. He doesn’t need anyone, he did this by himself. He goes on to talk about all the “old men” in USPW and how they aren’t fit to lace his boots, when Enygma comes out. Now you’ve got a credible threat to beat Enygma in Feb after the Jan PPV. Maybe have them wrestle to a draw and keep their feud going for a while.

I’ve done this a few times because I can’t seem to stick to a save, and I really like it, especially when, IMO getting Joss Thompson as over as possible as quickly as possible is a top priority on any USPW save

Probably my "Asylum" storyline in my WCW Lives save. They formed in February 2001, consisting of Vampiro, Crowbar, Daffney and Sinn Bowdee, who at a show announced that the "leader" would be here next week. Next week, "The preacher" Christopher Daniels and his bodyguard Abyss made their debuts, revealing Daniels as the leader. The Asylum feuded with Goldberg, trying to get in his head and take his World Heavyweight title. Bischoff granted them a title-shot at Greed in March, but had to decide amongst themselves who would receive it. At the PPV, the group announced their real leader... Sting! Sting went on to take the World title, and the group soon won all the titles. Vampiro the US title, Crowbar the Cruiserweight, Bowdee the Television, and Daniels & Abyss the Tag Team titles.

The storyline lasted for most of the year, until the group attacked Sting, after he lost the title back to Goldberg and threw him out. Vampiro took leadership, but the group had by then lost most of their titles. Sting returned a month later, and defeated Vampiro at Starrcade, causing the group to disband.

Daniels is now feuding with Flair over the US title, Crowbar & Bowdee has formed a tag team, while Vampiro is feuding with Booker T. Goldberg lost the World title at Starrcade to Chris Kanyon.

This is more of a character arc than storyline, per se. But still my favorite. I've emulated elements of it a few times. My first diary was SWF Generation Supreme way back on TEW 2008. A decade ago now.

Jack Bruce was the world champion and Richard Eisen the evil owner. I try to avoid the overdone evil authority figure approaches now, but was all in at that time. Eisen wanted to get the belt off of Bruce, who he deemed a poor figurehead for the company... a "B+ player", if you will. Eisen didn't so much care who took the title from Bruce, just that someone he could "trust" won it. Que a series of "evil planning" meetings in dark rooms that the magic camera somehow showed the viewers.

While this process was underway, I was building up Rich Money. I flat out fell in love with him as he was so fun to book and write. I had discovered TV Tropes and used the Magnificent Bastard archetype for him. Extremely talented and skilled, but smart, manipulative, and always with a plan. And a backup plan. And a backup backup plan. He had an alliance with Remo that was meant to be a genuine, long-lasting on-screen friendship. The kind of alliance that fans would expect to have fracture at some point, with one turning on the other, but the long-term plan was avoid that. Genuinely, they would stay on-screen friends. As heels. That was a small dynamic that I loved. Bad guys, but legit on-screen loyalty.

I can't recall the exact PPV - Times of Trouble? Master of Puppets? But Eisen put Bruce in a gauntlet match, with the final challenger to be decided. Bruce downs the first two challengers but is exhausted and hurt. Eisen and Emma Chase and some others argued about how the final challenger - and likely new champion - should be. Rich Money waited around, having already wrestled that night. He took the initiative and went down to the ring. Wearing a suit, he got in the ring and won the world title.

I believe the rematch was at The Supreme Challenge. A cell match. Money injured his knee in a tag match in the lead-up, so he was wearing a brace. But it was a deception - the brace was taken off and used as a weapon, helping him win the rematch to retain his title. He celebrated by climbing up to the top of the cell.... at which point "Eye of the Tiger" hit and Sean McFly made a return. He didn't say anything - just pointed at Money.

I don't think I've ever quite connected with a character like Money since. Just so fun to write and plan for.

So my user character is an exaggerated wrestling version of Rick Grimes. My game starts in January 2004 and I'm running WWE for Vince McMahon. As the story goes, Grimes runs Raw as its sheriff along with Eric Bischoff. Eventually Bischoff gets fired and as we move through the beginning of 2006, Grimes ends up earning the ire of the boss (instead of Shawn Michaels. Ended up having Michaels face Eddie Guerrero at Wrestlemania 22.)

So during the first part of 2006, Grimes follows the typical path by battling Vince McMahon and his goons. He defeats Shane at Saturday Night's Main Event and then he beats Vince McMahon in a surprisingly good match at Wrestlemania 22. Following this the McMahons continue to torment Grimes but he's a strong-willed guy. Eventually DX enters the equation to team up with Grimes against the McMahons. At Unforgiven there's a winner-take-all Hell in a Cell match where Grimes & DX take on the McMahons and Big Show. Ended up being an unbelievable match (one of my many 100 rated matches) and all looks well.

Then BAM! Rick Grimes takes a sledgehammer to Triple H's back and brutalizes Shawn Michaels as well. He turns heel and runs the WWE with an iron fist all while avoiding a physical confrontation with DX. At Survivor Series he claims he'll lead a team against DX's team but when the time comes he has himself replaced by Chris Jericho.

He continues to dodge DX before setting up a tag match between DX and Rated-RKO at New Year's Revolution. It's a Steel Cage match for the World Tag Team Championships! The Monday before this match was supposed to go down, Triple H ends up getting a spleen injury (lol) and is out for about 2 months or a little less. But the main event for New Year's Revolution must go on! Rick Grimes attempts to find Shawn a partner but no one will agree. So Rick decides to partner with Shawn and win the tag team titles! It looks like Rick has turned back to the good side. But just as Michaels is tuning up the band to win the match, Rick Grimes once again betrays him and allows Orton and Edge to get the pin.

At the Royal Rumble, Rick agrees to finally face Shawn Michaels but ONLY after Michaels has competed in the Royal Rumble. Another 100 rated match as Grimes beats Michaels silly. Eventually Michaels earns the right to face John Cena at Wrestlemania 23. Grimes makes an ultimatum that in order to go to Wrestlemania, Michaels must defeat him to defend that spot. As Grimes is about to win the match on Raw, Triple H's music hits, giving Shawn enough time to hit the Sweet Chin Music and claim victory.

At Wrestlemania 23 Rick Grimes meets Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match. After a brutal match, Rick Grimes reigns supreme over the game. Grimes finally gets some comeuppance at Backlash when he loses to the returning Goldberg. He also lost to Goldberg at Wrestlemania 24.

Back in the simpler days of EWR (but looking for ways to book it again on TEW16):

Survivor Series: Brock Lesnar (c) with Paul Heyman vs The Big Show. Heyman turns on Brock, joins Big Show. In the interest of fairness, once you have your title match, you don't get a rematch.

So Brock goes off to feud with someone else.

And Big Show starts to have title defenses against different people each month. And each month, something happens where someone will debut (or interfere) in the title match to join Heyman's stable - A-Train, Shane Douglas, and I forget who else. That meant that whomever they interfered against would then have a short feud with the person debuting (if necessary). The long game was for Show's reign to last a year and at Survivor Series, once someone else in the stable was high enough on the card, they would turn on Show - and as before, no immediate rematch.

The second one was Test w/ Stacy Keibler vs ???

The first few weeks would be vignettes where someone is stalking Stacy backstage. Maybe something goes missing or whatever. Then eventually, she gets abducted. Nothing is heard from her for a few weeks, then there's video that Stevie Richards was the one who abducted her. But the mastermind behind it all was Raven! This had Raven, and The Flock vs Test.

Test was then set up to mow down The Flock in order to get to Raven at the PPV (No Way Out, I believe). At No Way Out, it's Test vs Raven, with Stacy on the line. Stacy is wearing a collar and Stevie is parading her around on a chain/leash. Brutal match ensues, Test goes outside and attacks Stevie who is terrorizing Stacy (tied to a corner). Stevie is out of the way, Test unlocks Stacy. Moments later, Test is about to finish Raven off when Stacy comes in and attacks Test with the chain! Raven hits his finisher, and goes off with Stacy. I'm picturing Stacy with the plaid skirt, but more of a goth look...I think this was for the IC title at the time.

I think the point was to show Raven to be this callous guy who outsmarted people - he didn't want Stacy (Stevie did) but just to inflict pain/suffering to Test he figured that was the easiest way to do it. I forget what I had planned long term, but I still remember that storyline (at least the broad strokes of it) some 15 or 16 years later.

I had a gimmick storyline as TWA in Rising Storms after La Parka and Cactus Jack wound up having top tier chemistry for a tag team. I made Cactus take his Dude Love persona early, and him and La Parka would sing and dance their way through the lower midcard, and nearly every match would end with them chairshotting someone. It was simple and dumb but the crowd ate it up as a breather storyline that fired off before a real exciting match happened.

This is more of a character arc than storyline, per se. But still my favorite. I've emulated elements of it a few times. My first diary was SWF Generation Supreme way back on TEW 2008. A decade ago now.

While this process was underway, I was building up Rich Money. I flat out fell in love with him as he was so fun to book and write. I had discovered TV Tropes and used the Magnificent Bastard archetype for him. Extremely talented and skilled, but smart, manipulative, and always with a plan. And a backup plan. And a backup backup plan. He had an alliance with Remo that was meant to be a genuine, long-lasting on-screen friendship. The kind of alliance that fans would expect to have fracture at some point, with one turning on the other, but the long-term plan was avoid that. Genuinely, they would stay on-screen friends. As heels. That was a small dynamic that I loved. Bad guys, but legit on-screen loyalty.

And, of course, I ripped off pretty much all of this for my own SWF diary, because if you're going to steal...

And, of course, I ripped off pretty much all of this for my own SWF diary, because if you're going to steal...

Sharing is caring IMO.

One of the things I love about older Cverse projects is how many little details ended up becoming canon for the Cverse. Whether its nicknames, finishers, theme music.... I love that something like "The Great White Shark" Eddie Peak was created over a decade ago, but still gets used.

I tend to have the Eric Bischoff tendency of rushing a big match to a low-tier PPV so I was happy with myself when I was able to carry out a John Cena-Roman Reigns feud from SummerSlam all the way to WrestleMania, they never faced each other, fought side-by-side a few times, and were consistently on the same shows but never got physical with one another.
Lots of taunting angles, especially when Roman defeated Brock at Royal Rumble. To me it was the perfect buildup to Cena breaking Flair's record in the WrestleMania main event, especially since the match itself got a 99 rating.
The negative to all of it though was that it seems as if I used all my brain power on it and after WM I ended my save.

One time I did this awesome nine month long storyline with Jack Bruce. Basically, I had a shadowy figure make his life miserable. Made him wrestle multiple times a night. Set up stipulations that gave his opponents to advantage. Bribed officials...

Naturally he thought Rich Money was behind all this because all this would be expensive. He challenges Rich Money who claims he had nothing to do with it, but he'd gladly fight Bruce because he wants a shot at the title. They have a last man standing match, it's brutal and viscous. Bruce barely wins... then, all of a sudden, Eric Eisen comes out and reveals that it was him the whole time! He ends up beating a worn down Jack Bruce for the belt and cackles his way to being a ME heel.

One time I did this awesome nine month long storyline with Jack Bruce. Basically, I had a shadowy figure make his life miserable. Made him wrestle multiple times a night. Set up stipulations that gave his opponents to advantage. Bribed officials...

Naturally he thought Rich Money was behind all this because all this would be expensive. He challenges Rich Money who claims he had nothing to do with it, but he'd gladly fight Bruce because he wants a shot at the title. They have a last man standing match, it's brutal and viscous. Bruce barely wins... then, all of a sudden, Eric Eisen comes out and reveals that it was him the whole time! He ends up beating a worn down Jack Bruce for the belt and cackles his way to being a ME heel.

(Vince Russo voice) That's what I called the storyline, bro. I mean sure... there's a really similar one that's part of Cverse cannon, but hand to gawd, bro, that was all me.

I mean is it possible that Adam and I could have come up with the same angle at the same time? Sure, bro, I guess it's possible. I mean Jack Bruce being under pressure, that's not rocket science, bro. The story writes itself.